Running App Adjusts Music Beat To Match Goal Pace

Cruise Control is an iPhone app that adjusts the music in your library in real-time to control your running. The songs play at a faster or slower speed to keep you on track with your desired pace, heart rate, or cadence. The beats match your run and become synchronized with your footfalls.

We call it Cruise Control because it works a lot like cruise control in your car – you set your target, and the music will keep adjusting its rhythm, just like the car adjusts its throttle, to get you to your target and keep you there.

Cruise Control takes advantage of the relationship between music and running performance to help improve your run. The app was built using algorithms that control running speed and intensity in real-time, developed by researchers from the Locomotion Lab at Simon Fraser University, who used a combination of human experiments and control theory.

There are four ways to control your run, with the free run option automatically adjusting the music to your running rhythm. You can also set a target pace, heart rate, or cadence, which will drive you towards your goal if you match your steps to the rhythm of the music. Cruise Control is available for $4.99 from the App Store.